The Real Truth of Kiai in Martial Arts

Is Kiai really just ‘Spirit Shout?’

All too often people describe it as a “spirit yell”, but this only scratches the surface, and it is a horrible translation. If we look at the word in kanji, you will see that it is made up 2 characters. The first is Ki ( 気 ), this is the character for energy, whether you call it chi, qi, or prana. The second is Ai ( 合 ) meaning harmony. Some of you may notice something here, those are the same 2 character as Aikido ( 合気道 ) but in a different order. Thus “fighting yell” doesn’t enter into a proper translation.

So, a kiai, isn’t a fighting scream, but rather any sound that brings your energy into harmony with the situation. Nobody ever talks about it anymore but this could be a sob, a laugh, a sigh, or scream to bring all your force to bear in a fight.

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Since nobody ever has to explain how to laugh or cry, let us turn our attention to the application of “bringing the force to bear in a fight” or spirit yell.

If you visit enough other places you will no doubt see people, saying the word “kiai” or “kiup” (the Korean pronunciation) with no more enthusiasm than a yawn. This is useless, utterly useless.

When you watch the old martial arts movies, you don’t see people giving a kiai, like a child who is in trouble being asked to confess. It is loud, bold and proud.

More than once people tell me “it is embarrassing to scream”, to which my response is “SO WHAT! If I have to defend myself, I will give a kiai, and if the bad guy laughs at me, I don’t care. Regardless how they respond, whether it is shock, laughter, or they turn to run, that is going to give me my opening”.

Did Bruce Lee care about what people thought? No! He said (paraphrasing here) “every technique should have a life of its own, part of that is giving it a unique sound.” This is why he was making sounds, that even other martial artists thought, were weird.

A good kiai comes from the Dan Tien (Tanden), if it helps, think of it as coming from the diaphragm. In theater, they call this “projecting” so the people in the nosebleed seats can hear you. To go along with what Bruce said, it can be any sound, but “kiai” is not an Onomatopoeia, so please don’t use that as your sound. Even the 1970s corny movie “hi-ya” is less annoying than “kiai”.

My Sensei says “if a Kiai is done correctly, you don’t go horse”. This is true, but if you aren’t doing a proper kiai now, it will likely take a bit of practice to figure out how to be all “heavy metal concert” on it, without hurting your voice.